Harry Potter & The School of Hard Knocks
by orangesodabandit
Summary: An eleven-year-old Harry discovers hip-hop in 1991 before he finds out he's a wizard. Hogwarts will never be the same and Voldemort won't know what hit him. A story idea I came up with out of the blue when I found out the series takes place during the Golden Era of Hip-Hop.
1. Check the What?

_chuckee. presents: a story that popped into my head outta nowhere and now I have to write it 'cause i'll lose my mind if I don't_

 _Harry Potter & The School of Hard Knocks_

 **Chapter One: Check the What?**

 _September 1991._

 **..**

Harry Potter was a very lonely child.

His parents had passed away when he was a baby. His aunt and uncle weren't the most loving people in Britain; while they never physically hurt him they worked him to the bone. His early days usually consisted of hours upon hours of chores and garden work. And once that was done he had his older, much larger cousin, Dudley, and his friends to look forward to running from until it was dinnertime or Dudley got tired.

And if they weren't working him to death, then they didn't bother with him period.

There was many a night where Harry had to make his own dinner because his Aunt Petunia had forgotten to make enough for four.

Harry found that he loved going school and because of that he did pretty well, though that was mostly because it gave the boy a chance to be away from home. Any time away from that cupboard room was precious to him.

It wasn't until 4th grade in a language arts class that Harry realized he needed glasses; a quick trip to the optometrist diagnosed him with a bad case of nearsightedness and his Uncle Vernon reluctantly shelled out a couple of dollars for the cheapest pair of glasses they had.

Harry didn't think much of it until the next day when Dudley and his gang were particularly hurtful. The whole class found their teasing funny this time around and soon everyone was laughing at "Old Four Eyes". Harry's already well-known love for learning didn't help him much in the eyes of the other children.

To Harry's credit, not many nine-year-olds would've handled the situation as well as he did for three years.

One night, after an especially terrible dinner, Harry snuck by his uncle's sleeping form on the couch and squeezed himself and a tiny backpack- filled with what hand-me-downs his family let him have and a bag of crackers- through the unused dog door and took off.

Maybe his aunt and uncle would notice when he was gone altogether.

…

Harry was having a blast. Walking through his neighborhood was much different at night than blazing through it trying to escape from his cousin during the daytime straight from school. He smelled the scent of delicious bread being baked wafting from a house a few roofs down from his and the harsh orange streetlights that lit up the streets and sidewalks.

Even the sky was different. Glittering starts littered the inky black background while the crescent moon reflected off of the boy's round lenses.

" _Wow… that's pretty..."_ Harry thought.

Soon enough, Harry had come up on a part of the neighborhood he'd never seen before. He knew he'd have to be on guard; there was no telling who was around. " _The sight of a 10-year-old walking around unsupervised might raise a few eyebrows too,"_ Harry added.

A variety of different shops laid between each other, all of them Harry wanted to visit. He didn't have any money, but he'd figured he'd just look around anyways.

That's when he heard it.

( **Music:** **A Tribe Called Quest** **–** _ **Check the Rhime**_ )

Music was coming from one of the weirder-looking stores all the way to the left on the other side of the sidewalks. Intrigued, the young man hastily crossed the street and entered, eager to see where the music was coming from.

High shelves and racks of flat, black discs and tiny rectangular cases were everywhere; people were standing around, shuffling through them until they landed on something they wanted. Some were tapping their feet with headphones on near a strange machine that looked straight out of one of Uncle Vernon's science fiction programs.

He followed his ears until his eyes stopped on a large pair of speakers and a banner tacked right above it that read " _Naughty by Nature –_ _The #1 Album_ _Available Now!"_

The drums were rough and unlike any other music he'd heard before- the only music his aunt and uncle allowed in the house was jazz or classical music, not that he complained- the strumming of the bass, blaring horns and the gentle _ding_ of a piano appearing here and there mesmerized him.

But what caught Harry's attention the most were the lyrics: no one was singing! The men in the song seemed to be doing some sort of intense poetry competition; a flurry of words and rhymes came at him in what felt like a whole paragraph a second.

"Hey kid!" He heard a feminine voice call. His blood froze and Harry went rigid. " _Please don't be talking about me, please don't be talking about me..."_

He turned to the left and saw a tall, very pretty chocolate-skinned young woman with wild curly hair in a ponytail dressed in a shirt that read "Marley's Records & More" and a pair of dark blue jeans standing behind a busy counter. Her brown eyes gleamed behind her round, wooden glasses and she made a "come here" motion with her first finger.

" _Well, running away was good while it lasted,"_ Harry thought glumly before walking slowly towards the counter. "Y-yes ma'am?" He asked quietly.

The woman appraised the boy for a few seconds. He didn't _look_ particularly homeless but she honestly couldn't tell. Between his messy black hair, raggedy clothes and ratty shoes, it was fair to see how she was on the fence.

"What's your name, kid?" She replied. Harry was surprised by her American accent but he figured now wasn't the time to ask about it.

"Harry Potter, miss," He answered, not looking her in the eye.

"Harry, eh?" She grinned oddly, like she knew something he didn't. "Where's your folks?"

His gaze snapped up and his eyes shifted from side to side nervously. The woman smirked. " _Ah, must be a runaway then,"_ She thought.

"U-um, they're uh… a-at the other store!" Harry finally stammered out. "Yes, the one r-right across from here."

The tall woman gave him the look all women gave men when they knew they weren't telling the truth but she let it slide. "Alright, then. You like what's playing, Harry?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically and smiled, "Yes, ma'am. I've never heard anything like it! What's it called?"

Laughing at the change in his expression, the woman picked up the rectangular case that sat next to the speakers currently blasting the strange music. "It's called hip-hop. There's a ton of artists but these guys just came out with an album I think is really good."

Harry now stood on his tiptoes, trying his best to see the case. "Who are they?" He inquired, green eyes shining with interest.

" _A Tribe Called Quest_ _,"_ She replied. The boy nodded and took a closer look. There was a feminine figure kneeling in front of a black background. What caught Harry's eye was that the woman was painted red, black and green while the title of the album slithered over the curve of her back and hips, _The Low End Theory._

Something tugged at Harry deep inside of himself as he held the case. The rhythm had struck a chord and the green-eyed boy knew this was something he had to get.

"Um, miss?" Harry almost whispered. The woman chuckled, "Call me Alicia, kid."

Harry shuffled uncomfortably but continued on, "Um, Miss Alicia… I-I don't exactly have any money but… I really would like to borrow this. O-only if it's okay with you!" He added quickly. "I live on 12 Privet Drive so y-you wouldn't have to worry about me not returning it and-"

A deep laugh from Alicia stopped the boy's ranting. "Alright, alright Harry. I'll let you borrow the tape-" A bright smile from the boy. "-on a few conditions." His smile fell. "Um, okay. Sure, I don't mind that."

The bespectacled woman stepped from behind the counter and stopped in front of Harry, kneeling to meet his eyes better. "First, go straight home. Don't walk around here at night without your parents anymore, okay? You're a cute kid, it's not safe out here to be by yourself."

A deep blush and a quiet nod.

"Good," She exhaled a sigh of relief. "Second-" Alicia pulled a couple of bills out of her back pocket, "Get yourself some shoes from the store next to us."

Harry stood wide-eyed and shook his head rapidly. "Oh no, Miss Alicia, I-I can't take this..."

She placed the money into his hand and folded it with a firm, almost motherly touch. "You need this more than I do. You gotta keep yourself protected and warm, even the parts you think wouldn't need it."

Reluctantly, the boy nodded and stuffed the bills into the pocket of his baggy pants.

"Third, and finally…" She paused for dramatic effect. "Come back here every Friday after school and talk to me about hip hop and I'll let you borrow a few more."

Harry was so amazed at her generosity that he didn't do anything, not a nod or a verbal response for a good few seconds. "B-but why? I mean..." He looked down sadly, "I'm not that special. I'm a freaky four-eyed geek."

Alicia put her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "Don't say that about yourself. You're worth far more than whatever people say about you. And as far as being a 'four-eyes'-" She wiggled her glasses up and down, "Do you think I look ugly?"

The poor boy's face turned cherry red and he averted her eyes again. "N-no, no ma'am."

She grinned, "That's what I thought. Take pride in your glasses, you hear?" He looked back at her, a look of determination etched onto his features. "Yes ma'am, I understand."

She got back up from her kneel and placed the cassette in his backpack. "Alright, then. Get yourself home safe, okay?" Harry nodded excitedly. As he was about to walk out, he heard Alicia say "Oh!" and rushed behind the counter to putt out a strange yellow device that was only a little bigger than the cassette he'd just received.

"Take this too. A dear friend of mine gave that too me a while ago, so take care of it!" It was heavy so he put it in his backpack too. Eager to get back home and listen to his new music, Harry took off out the door with a grateful goodbye.

Alicia stood outside, a wistful smile gracing her pretty features. An even taller, caramel-skinned man joined her outside, a pair of headphones wrapped around the back of his head bracing his loose curly hair to the sides. "What's up, darlin'?" He asked. "Everything okay?"

She looked up at the man and kissed him on the cheek, "Mm-hmm. I just put someone on to _Tribe_ again." The man grinned and took her by the hand, kissing her slender knuckles. "C'mon hon, let's close up shop. I reckon we got some jazz records to break in back home." He finished with a sly wink.

Alicia blushed and smiled, "You're such a dork, Harrison..."

…

Harry quietly crept back into his house and quietly closed the door to his "room". Unpacking his new machine and cassette tapes, the boy got dressed for bed, shut off the light and let the music take him to another world deep in his mind.

He pressed the play button. Hiss from the tape filled the headphones as Harry waited silently for the music to start.

A bass riff and quiet bongos started up in the back. A shiver ran down Harry's back and a warmth grew inside of his chest.

" _Back in the days when I was a teenager, before I had status and before I had a pager..."_


	2. Me, Myself, & Luna

**A/N: Wow, okay first off, I'm super sorry for this chapter being this late. School sucks sometimes. People are actually digging this story, which surprised the hell outta me. It was supposed to be a little side thing while I wrote my own story but I guess I'll be putting more into it. For disclosure's sake, I'm gonna be messing up the timeline a _lot,_ so I guess it's an AU. Oh, and I don't own shit. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter Two: Me, Myself & Luna**

 _October 1_ _st_ _, 1992._

…

Eventually Harry did get himself a new pair of shoes.

Once again sneaking out of the house on a Thursday claiming illness (during the daytime this time, of course; he didn't want to break his promise to Miss Alicia), the boy bought himself a pair of black Chuck Taylors.

It became Harry's most prized possession, being the first thing he could say was _his_ and his alone.

Things progressed normally around the Dursley household since that day; Harry still worked ungodly amounts of chores, Dudley still chased him around (Harry was somewhat beginning to have fun with it now; nowadays, at least, it was easier to outrun the hefty boy and his friends) and he still loved going to school.

But late in the nighttime, Harry was studying a different type of music appreciation.

Hip hop was utterly fascinating; in the year he'd spent visiting the record store, Miss Alicia and her husband, the equally as cool (if not a little eccentric) Harrison had essentially thrown him headfirst into a world he'd never been aware of.

From _A Tribe Called Quest,_ to _De La Soul,_ to _LL Cool J,_ to newcomers like _Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth_, Harry's already small cupboard room was quickly becoming taken over by pillars and columns of cassette tapes.

Tonight, though, was different.

Popping in a new album Mister Harrison had given him earlier today, Harry slipped under the covers and prepared his ears. The now familiar _hiss_ of the tape noise filled him with anticipation and excitement. Who knows what kind of rhymes he would hear this time around?

Right before the music started though, the boy heard something slip through the front door. Quietly removing his headphones, Harry crept out of his door with a small, hard toy bat he kept next to him just in case.

Looking down at the floor where the moonlight shone through the front door window, a fancy reflective letter laid daintily, looking almost as if it'd been untouched by human hands. Placing his weapon down, Harry picked up the letter and flipped it over to the front.

He tilted his head curiously. " _To the Cupboard Under the Stairs, Privet Drive…?"_ Something in Harry's body went completely still. The boy's breathing became labored and fearful; whoever sent this knew _exactly_ where it was going.

Looking closer he saw the sender at the top right. _"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry?"_

 _..._

"So you're going off to a different school, huh?" Alicia murmured.

Harry nodded sadly. He was ecstatic when he found out he was a wizard; not only that, but his parents had been ones too!

It was much better than thinking they were irresponsible drunkards that had gotten killed in a car accident for eleven years.

But leaving Privet Drive meant leaving Mr. & Mrs. Midtown and the record store. He couldn't bear being apart from them for so long; they'd given him so much to enjoy and hadn't asked for hardly anything in return. He couldn't even tell them that he was a wizard; even though it wasn't lying, the boy hated to leave the kind couple in the dark about anything.

"Hmm..." Mister Harrison hummed, rubbing a palm to his neat, wooly beard. With a snap of his fingers, the towering man whispered in his wife's ear, who looked at him with a pleased expression. Harrison ran to the back of the store and Alicia sniffled, "The shop won't be the same without you around here geeking out every Friday, squirt."

Harry felt his eyes tear up and he gazed down at his sneakers. "I-I really will miss you both a lot. I'll make sure to write you as often as I can and mail presents for Christmas and whatever else I can-!"

The rambling boy was cutoff by a heartfelt hug by the curly-haired woman. "We'll miss you too, Harry."

It was very hard for Harry not to cry at the warmth of Miss Alicia's embrace. Hugging the young woman back with the same ferocity, the boy buried his head into her shoulder and started softly sobbing.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," Alicia soothed, rubbing small circles into his back. "You'll make plenty of friends at your new school, you know that right?" Harry looked up at her and wiped his eyes, "But what if they don't like me?" A scarier thought entered his mind. "What if they treat me the same way the kids treat me here?"

Alicia felt her heart clench at seeing her favorite customer so anxious and down in the dumps. No one deserved to feel like the were unwanted, least of all a boy as sweet and well-mannered as Harry.

"I have _zero_ doubt that you'll be the most popular kid there," The caramel-skinned woman replied firmly, offering a watery grin. She ruffled his hair and hopped up from her place on her knees. "You're Harry freakin' Potter! Coolest kid in the world, remember?"

Harry's green eyes lit up happily behind his tears and he nodded, "Yeah, I remember."

A grunting Harrison came stumbling out of the back room, a small box in his hands. "Alright, Harry. Me and the missus came to a decision that you deserved a little goin' away present," His heavy country accent rumbling through a lopsided grin. Plopping down on a chair, the older man handed the box to the boy, who lifted it with considerable effort.

"What's this, Mister Midtown?" Harry inquired. Harrison shared a look with his wife and his grin widened. "Wait 'till ya get to school to open it."

…

Harry found himself highly confused.

The trip with Hagrid to get his supplies for school had gone smooth for the most part; meeting all those people and finding out that he- _him_ of all people!- was famous in the Wizarding World had come as quite a shock.

Getting his wand was a lot of fun up until the shop owner, Ollivander, had mentioned the wand that had chosen him was the brother of the one that had given him his ever-present scar.

Even getting to the train from Platform 93/4 had proven to be a hassle until he saw a couple of first years going through the wall!

Now he had made it onto the train, with nothing but his few clothes, his newly-acquired snowy owl Hedwig and the mysterious, heavy present the Midtowns had left him. Walking down the corridors to the rhythm of the music bumping in his headphones, the young wizard searched high and low for an open room so that he'd finally be able to sit down somewhere for once today.

Spotting a seemingly empty car, Harry quickly took advantage of his situation and slid open the doors. Much to his surprise, he found someone was already occupying it.

( **Music: De La Soul –** _ **Eye Know**_ )

A girl with lengthy, dirty blonde hair sat cross-legged on the seat, her large silvery-blue eyes roaming an upside-down newspaper intensely. She was pale, more pale than any person Harry had ever seen; not sickly so, just very… white. Her legs were covered by a pair of black tights with stars sprinkling throughout that led into her midnight blue skirt and a pair of old-style leather shoes. A strange necklace hung from her long neck over a comfy looking dark green sweater.

Unsure about how to go about asking the girl if the room was already occupied with someone else, Harry considered just leaving the her in peace and finding one to himself. Suddenly the girl turned her head to him in one quick movement; Harry was frozen in place by her stare.

She blinked and smiled oddly. "You are welcome to sit with me, if you would like."

Blinking back and chuckling nervously, Harry tugged his belongings inside the cart and sat down across her with a heavy sigh. "Thanks, um…?"

The girl tilted her head cutely and let out a high-voiced "Oh!". "Luna Lovegood. It's very nice to meet you, Harry Potter."

Harry's groaned inwardly, "Does _everyone_ know who I am?"

Luna gazed out of the train window dreamily, "Oh yes, I would certainly think so. You are the Boy-Who-Lived, after all."

It was a label Harry was quickly beginning to become annoyed with. From the bits and pieces he'd picked up from the people around the village and from Hagrid's accidental slips, it seemed like the man who'd killed his parents- an evil sounding wizard named Voldemort- had cast a curse on Harry as a toddler and it rebounded, killing him too.

If anything it made Harry feel worse about himself. The way he saw it, he'd inadvertently killed his family.

"Most people wouldn't sit with me, you know," Luna stated, jolting Harry out of his self-deprecating daydream. He looked at the spacey girl curiously, "Why not?"

"They say I'm weird and freaky," She replied matter-of-factly. Her voice was still pillow soft and unfocused, but a tinge of hurt made its way through. Harry suddenly felt righteously angry; he didn't know this girl very well, but she seemed perfectly fine, if a tiny bit odd.

She didn't deserve to be called a freak.

"That's just… I mean you're _not…_ ugh!" Harry sputtered, annoyed. "If it makes you feel better you've been completely _un_ freaky towards me."

The blonde girl's cheeks dusted pink and for a moment her hazy eyes averted Harry's green gaze shyly. Harry coughed awkwardly and suddenly his Chucks became the most interesting thing in the room. "Sorry about that. I don't like people being called mean things."

Luna simply smiled, "Thank you, Harry Potter."

Harry grinned back, "Just Harry is fine, Luna Lovegood."

Luna's smile widened. "Very well, Just Harry."

…

The rest of the ride was spent getting to know the weirdly dressed girl. Luna, while very unique to talk to, seemed like a cool person. More than once she had captured Harry's attention with tales of her and her father searching out the magical wildernesses for mythical animals and rare creatures, only to make him laugh when describing what effect they have on wizards and witches.

Eventually, Luna noticed the Walkman strapped to Harry's belt. "What _is_ that?" She questioned, intensely interested.

Harry snapped it off of his belt and held the cassette player in his hands tenderly. "It's something called a cassette player. Came from a... really dear friend of mine. It's how I listen to all of my hip hop."

The blond girl looked at it all around, curiosity piqued to its limit. "What's hip hop?"

Harry opened his mouth to explain it, but just as quickly closed it. How do you describe something as important as hip hop to someone who's never heard of it before?

"Okay, um..." Harry started. "Alright, so do you know what jazz is?"

A nod.

"Perfect! Okay, good. So imagine jazz with louder drums and instead of it being purely instruments there are people speaking poetry and telling stories in rhymes," The green-eyed boy explained.

Her silvery-blue eyes widened in interest, "May I listen with you?"

Harry gaped for a moment before happily pulling out and extra pair of headphones from his cart (" _note to self,_ _write a '_ _thank_ _you' note to_ _Miss Alicia for giving me these_ _all_ _those weeks ago,"_ He thought) and handing them to his new friend.

( **Music: De La Soul –** _ **Me, Myself & I**_)

A drum break appeared seemingly from thin air, surprising the young witch with a yelp. A burst of instruments followed soon after; bass guitar, a crazy sounding synth keyboard, and what sounded like a man harmonizing with the chaos of it all and failing spectacularly.

Luna had fallen in love with it immediately.

Harry looked over to Luna, who was sitting completely still save for the rhythmic tapping of her feet. She began flipping her hair back and forth, a look of joy on her cute features. Harry grinned and started dancing with her, the both of them getting up and moving their bodies in sync to the music. Soon after, they flopped back down next to each other, happily exhausted.

"This is wonderful!" Luna exclaimed breathlessly. "I can't believe I've never heard of this kind of music before!" Harry simply beamed and ran a hand through his hair, "It's all I listen to most of the time."

Luna turned to him, a pleading expression in her large eyes, "Oh Harry, you simply must tell me where to get one of these… these, um..."

"It's called a Walkman," Harry answered. "I don't think any shops in Magical Britain would sell one of these..." Her countenance withered and she withdrew back dejectedly from Harry. "Oh."

Harry leaned over directly in front of her face and smiled, "But I don't mind sharing with a friend."

The blonde girl immediately brightened. Her eyes, now dangerously focused, zeroed in on Harry's. "Do you mean that, Harry Potter?" Harry nodded happily, "Sure! You're quite nice and I don't see a reason why we shouldn't be. Would you like to be my friend?"

Luna lurched over and hugged Harry warmly. Harry, who had only been hugged by Miss Alicia and never from someone his own age, internally panicked. " _Oh jeez, what do I do, what do I do?"_ He thought frantically. The boy wrapped his arms around the – admittedly very comfortable – peculiar girl and squeezed back in response, hoping he hadn't done anything out of order.

The blonde girl pulled back, her cheeks red and her gaze back to the ceiling. "I have a feeling this will be an interesting year, Harry."

Harry simply shook his head and reclined back in his seat, "I hope it's not _too_ interesting, Luna."

…

The Opening Feast was truly something to behold.

The décor, the tables, the ghosts and specters roaming the Great Hall, the smell of the _food_ – it was almost too much for the young boy to take in. Hundreds of students sat, observing the rest of the first years walk in. One by one, they all went up to the pointy hat the Headmaster, who Harry had learned was Professor Dumbledore, had called the Sorting Hat.

He gulped nervously upon seeing Draco Malfoy join into the Slytherin House, pridefully taking his place next to a couple of the older looking house members. "Definitely _not where I wanna end up,"_ He thought with a shiver of anger. His introduction to the blond boy started with his insulting Luna and ended with some not-so-friendly words and threats.

Speaking of said girl, Luna Lovegood was next to approach the stage. Her regular daydream-esque expression never left for a second, but she squeezed her new friend's hand anxiously. Harry squeezed it back gently before she walked, ignoring all the odd looks she was getting from the rest of the student body. Gently settling down on the chair, the girl sat the Sorting Hat on her head and closed her eyes.

" _Hmm_ … _now let's see here,"_ The Hat's deep voice groveled inside her mind. _"Secretly very observant, a talent for absorbing information… Ravenclaw wouldn't be a bad choice, do you think?"_

" _I imagine not, but I don't really much_ _care_ _to_ _know too many things,"_ Luna replied simply.

The Hat _hmpf'_ d in response. " _Reasonably brave, but not your defining trait. So Gryffindor is out,"_ The Hat said bluntly. " _Not particularly ambitious either, but quite friendly. Yes… outgoing and hard-working are a good combination,_ _even if you're a bit on the introverted side_ _..."_

" _So it's either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, I imagine?"_

" _I shall let you decide, if you would like,"_ The Hat offered.

Luna shook her head gently. " _Thank you, but I wouldn't want to take your job away from you. I trust your judgement, Mister Hat."_ The Sorting Hat was surprised. Usually students jump at the opportunity to choose, but this one trusted him enough to do what he did best. At that moment, The Hat knew exactly where to place the spacey girl.

" _I appreciate that more than you'll know, Miss._ _A_ _kind soul_ _like yours_ _deserves to go to…_ **Hufflepuff!** " The Sorting Hat called out. A modest applause was raised at the Hufflepuff table and Luna hopped up and placed the Hat back onto the chair gently. "Thank you, Mister Hat. Hopefully I'll see you again soon," Luna whispered to the Hat. She caught Harry's gaze and smiled before skipping over to sit down next to the boy that had gone before her.

Harry blew out a nervous breath as his name was called. The _entire_ building's eyes were on his now; even the paintings, it seemed, were interested in seeing where the Boy-Who-Lived would end up in. Harry plopped down and stuffed the Hat on his head and closed his eyes, hoping it would distract him from all of the people staring at him.

" _Your friend is quite unique, Mister Potter,"_ The Hat said in amusement. Harry sighed and smiled, _"Yeah, she's different. But I like her, she's a pretty cool girl."_

" _Indeed. Now then, let's see about_ you _, shall we_?" The Hat said, mischief thick in his voice. Harry gulped.

" _Quite brave of you sticking up for her like that earlier. Most wouldn't have done that for someone they had just met,_ " The Hat commented. " _Perhaps that bravery will see you through some significant times…?"_

Harry shrugged, " _I don't think I'm exactly the brave type._ _It's good to do what's right, right?_ " The Hat grunted in agreement, " _You are not wrong. Ah, what's this? Hidden intelligence, and an intense love for knowledge and… music?_ "

Harry blushed. _"It_ is _one of my favorite things to do."_

The Sorting Hat laughed heartily, " _The Boy-Who-Lived, it seems, is much simpler than the books and the headlines will have you think, eh? A mind that yearns for knowledge would fit beautifully in…_ **Ravenclaw!** "

The Ravenclaw table _roared._ The Gryffindor table was inconsolable, the Hufflepuff table cheered good-naturedly and the Slytherin table offered a weak clap as a whole. Harry sat down with his House, welcomed by high-fives and claps on his shoulder from all sides. He looked towards Luna who, while miffed that her friend wouldn't be in her house, abandoned her usual absentminded appearance and smiled warmly at him, waving shyly.

Harry smiled contently and waved back. " _Maybe school won't be so bad after all,"_ The boy thought.


End file.
